News

We’re excited to feature this amazing textile at Fabric Spark - Ikat, (pronounced ee-kaht). 

Amazingly, the Ikat woven technique emerged independently in various parts of the world including Indonesia and India. The weaving method is centuries old and was originally a ceremonial fabric.

What is it?

Ikat refers to fabrics that have been woven using resist-dyed strands of yarn. Resist-dying involves tying the threads at specific areas, which makes it more difficult for the dye to saturate the threads, and leaving other areas untied, allowing for dye to be completely absorbed. The threads appear to move from low to high saturation, as a result. When these yarns are woven strategically, they create a dynamic pattern that is truly unique. 

The number of colours used to dye the yarn can range from two to several dozen. This is uniquely different from dying the entire piece of yardage once woven, which would result in larger resist-patterns. Below is a two colour Ikat (left) and a three colour ikat (right).

 

There are other yarn dyed wovens like shot cottons or chambrays, gingham and yarn dyed stripes, but Ikat is different. The use of resist dyeing to create a variegated effect on the thread. Many wovens we see in the quilting and bag making world feature yarn that is dyed with a single colour. Each of the single-colours threads are then woven into patterns to create yardage. The patterns are often grid-based as a result because the warp threads are one colour and the weft threads another. 

The complexity of the pattern is the result of how the dyed yarns are used when weaving. It’s important to emphasize the high-level of craftsmanship required to produce patterns using dyed yarn. Artisans perfect their skills with experience and experimentation.

A single Ikat fabric uses a single-coloured weft thread (left to right) and resist-dyed warp threads (up and down) to create motifs that feature lengthy elements, such as stretched chevrons. This approach created a dramatic and modern look so we chose 5 single Ikat designs to bring in. You can see them here. 

If you're wondering what to make with Ikat, check out the lovely Chanterelle pants that Shirley made in the black. We're offering a workshop to make these awesome pants in case you'd like to learn to make them. 

I've been a fan of the Indian aesthetic all my life, especially Indian textiles, and was lucky enough to have an extended stay in Mumbai about 20 years ago for work.  What a perk!  That trip allowed me to indulge in a lot of fabric acquisition and to learn a little bit about the art and beauty of textile printing in Rajasthan. I used Mumbai as a jumping off point for some fantastic, travels around the country but mainly towards all things fabric... And that was before I had even imagined a Fabric Spark!

The fabrics we think of as Indian block prints are steeped in history and tradition. The botanically inspired designs that I am so fond of can trace their origins back to the early 1500's and owe a great deal to Iranian or Persian influences. Whether realistic or imagined, rows of delicately stemmed flowers and ordered petals appeared in doorway frames, on wooden facades, and in monumental and palace architecture, tapestries and fabrics, all at the behest of the Moghul Emperors of the day. The 1600's saw an added European influence with explorers and traders bringing books and gifts to trade with their hosts. That influx added realistic herbals to the mix, and the new art of depicting flowers from the side as well as the front. 

Many of these original patterns have persisted in one way or another through the centuries in Indian design, possibly because they were literally carved in stone.

   

 

When buying and caring for hand made fabrics there are a few helpful things to keep in mind.

   

Caring for your hand printed, dyed, and woven fabrics might require a little more kindness than a typical cotton. We recommend gentle washing in cold water (on its own the first couple of times), preferably with a mild soap. Rinse well.
We'd suggest hanging to dry. Avoid a hot dryer. Most are quite light and will dry very quickly. I will add this is how I care for most of my clothes, especially the ones I've made. It's a good practice and good for the environment too. 

Our little business went through several evolutionary changes over the next few years as we figured out what worked for us and what didn’t.  We added a few helpers, got out of the basement into a shared retail space, and started dabbling in more types of fabric and sewing products. But, for us, the magic happened, and it all came together, when we arrived at 1992 Danforth in January 2020 - exactly 5 years ago.

Our new location wasn’t without challenges. We opened our doors in mid-January, and a week later, a massive street construction project started right outside our window, closing lanes and wiping out parking. A mere two months after that, we had to close our doors for a lockdown with no known end date. The pandemic meant an immediate shift in our business model and we had to pivot (scramble) to figure out delivery, front door pick ups, and to find products we’d never carried before, or even heard of (remember polypropylene?). 

Welcoming customers back inside meant everything. We were bustling with your creative energy. The classroom filled and we all remembered and welcomed the joy in a lengthy conversation with other makers. We got to discuss colour, patterns, designers and tools with you. We saw acquaintances bloom into friendships around our studio tables. And, though it may sound cliched, we got so inspired by the work you started bringing into the store. Being an operational shop again meant we could finally find our rhythm as a sewing and quilting destination.  

The Danforth shopping neck of the woods and our larger online community have been incredibly good to us. You’ve been supportive, enthusiastic and encouraging. You’ve brought us ideas for products and classes, and you’ve been quick to adopt new designers, teachers, products, and workshops.   

We are so grateful for the last 5 years, and so excited about the next, we thought this was a good opportunity to celebrate. So that’s what we’re going to do, and we have a plan!

As we were brainstorming about our anniversary celebration and how to share it with all of you, we decided to focus on the 5 priorities or themes that have come to drive and shape Fabric Spark. They are the qualities that we really care about and they help define our goals for how we want to relate to the sewing community. Over the years they have influenced our choice of products and suppliers, impacted our hiring decisions, and governed how we work with each other on the team. So with that as a framework, our next task was figuring out how to animate these themes and share them with you. 

We are putting together a calendar that we hope will be fun and engaging, and will help bring our operating principles to life. Over the next several months we’ve developed added activities and events that represent a different theme each month, starting now, in January.

1. Unique and Beautiful Fabric

First and always, we care about finding and bringing you those amazing discoveries you didn’t know you needed. Of course, we want to carry the big names and popular designers that we all love, but we also work really hard to find the hidden gems, the smaller International companies, and the new talent that may not already be on your radar, or known to our sewing community. 

We’re devoting January to this theme by launching our trove of gorgeous new fabrics from India and showing off some fantastic projects you can make with the fabric. Save January 17 in your calendars for that launch!

2. A Passion for Colour

The thing we hear most often when people walk in the door is “It’s so colourful!”...and it is. Everyone on our team has their own favourite palette, as do all of our customers, but we all really love colour and try to provide many options and possibilities for any of the colour combinations you’re putting together.

We have a fun event planned in February for that. We’re going to do our own version of a colour challenge and have come up with some fun prizes. We’ll announce the details later in January but if you want to start thinking about it - we're choosing 5 colours, and you can add anything you want to them, or nothing. We'll make them available at a great price too. Feel free to start brainstorming now. 

We design all of our workshops to try to give people more confidence to pursue their creative goals. Whether it’s a quilting method, garment pattern, or mending technique, we want you to enjoy the learning process and leave the class feeling like you have the know-how to try it on your own. 

To date we’ve only been able to do this in our studio, but we get a lot of requests from our out of town customers to find ways for them to participate in our classes. With that in mind, we are going to host FREE Friday lunch and learns in the month of March on subjects that we hope you find useful, helpful, and enjoyable. 

4. Commitment to community

We are very aware and equally grateful that we serve an incredibly generous community. Sewists and quilters are caring and always incredibly quick to support a worthy initiative. We are inspired by this culture of giving and want to participate in a meaningful way.

To that end, we have a couple of initiatives planned for April. We’ll be having another sample sale where all of the proceeds will go to Beautiful World Canada to educate the most impoverished girls in sub-Saharan Africa. We already have a giant stash of product to sell and more on the way. As well, we have a fun community quilting project that we’re currently developing. We’ll be back to ask you to participate for a great cause. Stay tuned for details. 

I’ve been saying since Fabric Spark started, that we should all do something creative every day. 

There are so many ways that a creative endeavor can add to our mental health. It makes us present and can create a state of flow, giving us a break from stress and worries. It can provide a productive channel for your emotions, or give you a place to express a message.

Creative projects can provide social interaction (we see that a lot), and engagement with something bigger than ourselves. Creativity can improve brain function and cognitive activity. It can encourage us to try new things, to stretch our comfort zone and to see the world differently. 

We are going to try and scratch the surface of this giant idea with a few initiatives including a special guest speaker at the shop. More to come on this one. 

It’s On for 2025!

Whether you’ve been with us from day one, or are brand new to our community, we want to thank you and celebrate with you. Follow along on all of our activities here. We’ll share more details as events near and we have a few other little surprises up our sleeves that we’ll share in this space.  

Thanks for your attention and we’ll see you back here soon for more updates - now back to fabric news, workshops, and our other usual fare. 

The last collection that Anna Maria Horner designed for Free Spirit has arrived. AM Loves Hue is a "BIG" celebration of colour. The prints are graphic and bold and include stripes, colour blocks, diagonal ribbons, and other bold depictions of wonderful colour palettes.

Some of the repeats are so big we opted not to cut fat quarter bundles because you would not get all of the colours in a single fat quarters. Instead think in terms of larger cuts and use them as quilt backs, whole cloth quilts, take advantage of the stripes in a binding, or cut up the colour blocks to make use of where the colours come together. 

She also included four of her most popular prints from past collections and we couldn't be happier. We've used a couple of these as quilt backs and they are stunning, you almost want to flip the quilt over!  

We've included the ruler in the images on each product listing on the website. Be sure to check those so that you understand the scale before determining your yardage. 

 

Elise Young, a relatively new Figo designer, is a prolific block-printing artist and author. Folktale is our second collection from her, but the first in quilting cotton. Her hand-carved illustrations feature unique compositions of florals. We especially love how she used her floral motifs to create secondary patterns like her stripes and tiles.

Heather Ross By Hand, is Heather's first collection created from hand inked and hand painted artwork. Her illustrations of florals and animals (we love the burro!) have her iconic charm and signature palette. The scale is a little larger than her past collections so we've made sure to include a ruler image for all of the prints. 

 

We have found an alternative courier that is about the same cost as Canada Post so we're holding our flat rate shipping rates* for the duration of the strike. You can read more about it here. 

The time to deliver is reported to be about 5-7 business days so be aware it may take a little bit longer than you are used to with Canada Post. 

Please shop small business during the strike. These are the companies most impacted by the loss of this affordable shipping service and after a very challenging year, will need your support.

*There are a small number of locations that are not serviced by this courier, if you place an order and we discover that we are unable to get it to you by this means, we'll let you know and you can either opt to have it held until Canada Post is back at work, or you can have it shipped (for a premium) by an alternative courier. 

The extremely colourful and dress mad account of House That Lars Built has been stoking my imagination for years so I'm thrilled that Brittany Jepsen worked with Fableism to create this stunning and bright collection, Swedish Holiday, with clear colours and...